One thing I’ve been wondering about for a while is, some trans women I know say that estrogen immediately makes them feel better, on a time scale of hours to a single day. For those who it is this quick, it seems like it should be testable with placebo. Unfortunately the trans woman I had arranged a placebo test with ended up too busy.
Definitely wasn’t the case for me. The only psychological effect I’m pretty much certain about is the lower/different sex drive. There’s also more crying, but I think that it’s mostly accounted for by a different physical response to the same emotions. And some other changes, but they are more subtle and hence might be placebos. (Although, when I just started HRT I had extreme anxiety about possible side effects and it might have masked any rapid positive psychological effects.)
I’ve had an odd inbetween experience. I at the beginning I had a quick but weak positive reaction, but later I’ve tried going on and off without much effect beyond the sex drive. I attribute my initial positive reaction to placebo, but I would feel more confident in attributing this stuff to placebo if I could demonstrate it for someone who had a big, clear, unambiguous effect.
It did make me feel better immediately, but I always assumed that was just placebo. The first objective changes came after a couple days, when I happy cried at a movie for the first time in my life (that I can remember, anyways). What Vanessa says about different physical responses doesn’t really feel right; the emotion was very intense and I don’t remember feeling anything like it before.
One thing I’ve been wondering about for a while is, some trans women I know say that estrogen immediately makes them feel better, on a time scale of hours to a single day. For those who it is this quick, it seems like it should be testable with placebo. Unfortunately the trans woman I had arranged a placebo test with ended up too busy.
Definitely wasn’t the case for me. The only psychological effect I’m pretty much certain about is the lower/different sex drive. There’s also more crying, but I think that it’s mostly accounted for by a different physical response to the same emotions. And some other changes, but they are more subtle and hence might be placebos. (Although, when I just started HRT I had extreme anxiety about possible side effects and it might have masked any rapid positive psychological effects.)
I’ve had an odd inbetween experience. I at the beginning I had a quick but weak positive reaction, but later I’ve tried going on and off without much effect beyond the sex drive. I attribute my initial positive reaction to placebo, but I would feel more confident in attributing this stuff to placebo if I could demonstrate it for someone who had a big, clear, unambiguous effect.
It did make me feel better immediately, but I always assumed that was just placebo. The first objective changes came after a couple days, when I happy cried at a movie for the first time in my life (that I can remember, anyways). What Vanessa says about different physical responses doesn’t really feel right; the emotion was very intense and I don’t remember feeling anything like it before.